


it's but a matter of time

by cngkyns



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels, Character Death, Death, Fallen Angels, Gen, Light Angst, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 17:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12658344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cngkyns/pseuds/cngkyns
Summary: Wherein humans are given second chances at life by the Death Angel, under three conditions: they must protect a life, they must protect the watch containing that life, and they must protect their own.Kihyun wants to save his family from an afterlife of suffering.Changkyun wants to reconcile with his first love.And Hoseok wins.





	it's but a matter of time

**Author's Note:**

> SO THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 40 MINS IN THE MIDDLE OF 2 ESSAYS AND A NOVELLA, therefore it's raw and unedited and also probably rlly messy   
>  but anyway i rlly needed a place to vomit my feels and explain the mv storyline myself? so here goes!! hope you enjoy

"You're sure about this?" the Death Angel asks, his gaze piercing straight through Kihyun's eyes. The young man nods frantically, clutching his watch with the broken pieces and the shattered glass, the remnants of the human life he was supposed to save. This was his job. His duty in order to return the family honour he'd lost along the way. A task he'd failed miserably.

 

"Yes," Kihyun answers. He's sure about it now- he's willing to exchange his own life in order to save the innocent human and erase all their memories together. He's willing to look past the pain it will cause to Jooheon, a best friend he'd bonded through difficult times in university, who pulled all the broken pieces of him when his life fell apart. He knew that, when he was tasked to protect his family's name from entering eternal damnation, he had to choose one human whom he would sacrifice his own life to protect with. So he takes a deep breath and adds a quiet, desperate, "Please."

 

The Death Angel glances at the overturned car hovering mid-air, fractions of the windshield floating around, the driver's face a picture perfect expression of one second before death, and releases a sigh as if he has all the time in the world- which he does. Running a hand through his brown hair, he extends a hand to accept the broken watch being offered to him and trades it with his own watch, new and clean, like the starting slate of a human soul. 

 

Kihyun breaks into a relieved, bittersweet smile. "Thank you." He takes the watch in his hand and presses one of the dials on the side. Light flashes beneath their feet, ripples break through spacetime, and the overturned car slowly flips right side up, the fractured windshield piecing themselves together, and Jooheon's facial expression reversing from one of utter shock to its previous tranquility. Kihyun inhales and closes his eyes. Any moment now. 

 

When he opens his eyes, there's the screech of breaking glass and ramming tires, and his world flips upside down. 

 

 

 

Changkyun sinks onto the floor of the alley, chest heaving and sweat covering every inch of his body. His heart thumps thunder beats in his ear after the mad dash from the men in black- the TimeKeepers, as they were known. The organization of fallen angels who look out for humans wanting to cheat Fate and their ultimate end, even if the renowned Death Angel was by his side.  

_It's alright,_  he whispers to himself. Sweat drips from the tips of his hair, flattening his fringe onto his forehead and dampening his neck. Minhyuk's footsteps were far away from the alley, far from where he's currently sitting, waiting to be caught or to be saved.  _It's alright._

But where was Hyungwon when he needed him?

 

He looks at the watch in his hand, unbroken and fully functioning, save for a couple of scratches on the glass and the leather strap. It's unscathed, really. Looks almost as good as new. Does that mean he's succeeded in his job? 

 

The sound of footsteps reappear again, distant but steady, from his right. Minhyuk had ran off to his left. The alley was a maze of unknown turns and directions, but Changkyun knows there was no way Minhyuk would come back for him, not since they've long broke off contact and he was nothing more than an unfamiliar face. The split second he took to appear and tug the elder's hand was not enough for a reunion between them, he knows. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. His chest hurts. 

 

_It's alright._

Minhyuk was never coming back to him. 

 

_It's alright._

The TimeKeepers manifest themselves from the dark shadows, their black-and-white suits glowing a dark aura, its gray tendrils- a sign of their fallen status- stretching and widening. 

 

Changkyun can feel the first tear roll out of his eye. It's long overdue. He should have started crying the moment he came across his first love once more, the moment his first love smiled at him and asked, "Who are you?" 

 

He inhales again, closing his eyes for stability, his breath shaky. _It's alright._

Minhyuk had long forgotten him and their years of hand-holding, their short pecks on the cheeks, their sweet childhood love.

 

When Changkyun opens his eyes, the first TimeKeeper approaches him with a silver gun aimed towards his forehead. He can feel the heat of the barrel spreading around his face. He remembers his contract with the Death Angel, the angel disguised as the watchmaker by day and carries an unusual amount of watches on his body. The angel who can end a human's life by simply crushing the watches, but also trading human lives in exchange for it. 

 

_If my watch is still intact by the time my job is over, please, please, please keep Minhyuk happy and warm. Please look after him as best as you can. And please, make him remember me._  

 

The TimeKeeper pulls the trigger. 

 

 

 

Hoseok shudders under the run of the cold water. It's not enough to wash off the stink from his hour-long kendo practice with Hyunwoo, but it's enough to wash away the sweat and the oil collected in the trenches of his skin. It's been so long, so long since he'd had this thrill of exercise and physical strain. He misses the heat that radiates off his body, the pain in his muscles and his hard breaths. It reminded him of how he used to pride on his body when he was alive, alive in the sense that he lived without teetering on the edge of death. And he was going to return to that status now. 

 

He smiles to himself. He chose a smart bargain with the Death Angel, didn't he? He wasn't going to die anytime now, would he? 

 

Hyunwoo was a healthy man and lived a smooth-sailing life. He had a stable job, a girlfriend, a caring family and genuine friends to support him. Hoseok was just another piece in the background of his intricate life, leading a role so small that no one would've guessed he had complete control over the man's life. The watch that contained the entirety of Hyunwoo's time as a living being was contained safely in his bag. Today was their meeting time. 

 

Outside the dojo, as Hoseok steps off the steps and shoulders his duffel bag, he spots the Death Angel standing in a suit and staring at a watch in his palm. The scruff of his footsteps on the ground causes him to raise his head. 

 

Hoseok waves a hand at him, his watch held between the tips of his index and middle finger. Hyungwon turns his body fully towards him, his face blank and cool- his usual expression. 

 

"I've succeeded," the human says once they're a feet apart from each other. Hoseok passes him the watch, untouched and unbroken, with a bright smile on his face. The Death Angel acknowledges it with a nod. "Will you reward me now?" 

 

The Death Angel hums, retrieving the watch from his hand and observing it up close. It was in in the exact same state as the first time he'd handed it to the human two and a half years ago. 

 

"Congratulations," he says, voice monotone and devoid of expression. "You've succeeded." 

 

Then he clicks a dial on the watch in his other hand. Hoseok's life flashes past before their eyes, reversing the past three years: the flashes of college, his first meeting with Hyunwoo, his first kendo class- returning him to the spot where the bus almost crashed him and ended his life, except time is frozen and the bus stopped right in front of his face. 

 

With all the time in the world, or as much as the Death Angel has given him, Hoseok runs away into safety. 

**Author's Note:**

> scream w me at tumblr [@cngkyns](https://cngkyns.tumblr.com)


End file.
